I have been learning English since elementary school, and now I am in my junior year, but my English level is not directly proportional to the elapsed time. Before I went to high school, the English tests in junior school were very simple for me because I joined an English cram school. The teachers there were quite strict. There were many difficult exams and homework. The teachers were really fierce as well. I would shiver every time before I went to class. During the class, students would be asked to answer questions on stage, and if they could not answer, they had to stay on stage.

There were two incidents that caused me to hate learning English. The first one was the difference in English standards of the cram school and my junior school. They were not the same level, so my grades in the cram school were very poor. I was often scolded by the teachers. One time, I answered a difficult question correctly in an exam, but my teacher didn’t believe it was written by me. She suspected that I was cheating on the test. The second incident happened when I was in middle school. The teacher gave every student a storybook to read. Although my test scores were very good, I did not have the capability to read in English; I was only good at taking the test. So when I was asked to answer some questions regarding the storybook, I didn’t know how to. She screamed at me on the spot, thinking that I was not paying attention to the class and didn’t respect her. She asked me not to show up in her classes anymore. The above incidents had traumatized me from learning English.

The English education of my schools had turned me into an exam machine. I became aware of this problem during the summer vacation in my third year of junior school. I joined a language school in Singapore and I was in the foundation class. The content of the textbook was very easy for me, but I hardly understood what the teachers were saying. It was a real shock to me because I got good grades in English on the junior high final exams in Taiwan. I knew the answers, but I couldn’t express it in English. After that, I joined some language schools during my summer vacation. It was hard to speak in English in the beginning, but after a period of time, I was able to speak fluently, although I still had some grammar mistakes. But after I went back home, my level of fluency deteriorated again. I realized the environment is very important for me to improve my English speaking. I was looking for an opportunity to speak in English again. That was how I met Melody. I joined her speaking and grammar classes. She is very nice and gentle in class. She never scolded me when I answered questions incorrectly. She encourages me to speak and learn from my mistakes. When I speak, she never interrupts me. After I finish speaking, she corrects the sentence structure and accent for me. Back in school, the teachers always asked me to memorize the grammar rules directly. Melody is different, she lets me understand the structure clearly and explains the rules for me.

After studying with Melody, I am no longer afraid of learning English. It is very important to meet a good teacher. If you have had a traumatic experience with learning English, then Melody is definitely your best choice.